Overview
- The Coinbase Quantum Advisory Council published a report on June 11 that says no quantum computer can break Bitcoin today but that uncertainty about timelines requires early preparation.
- The council estimates roughly 6.9–7 million BTC are vulnerable because their public keys are already exposed on‑chain or through address reuse.
- About 1.7 million BTC sit in legacy pay‑to‑public‑key (P2PK) addresses where public keys are visible and many of those coins cannot be moved because their private keys appear lost.
- The report lays out governance options for unmigrated coins — freezing or burning after a deadline, preserving property rights, or middle‑ground limits and proof schemes — but it does not endorse a single policy.
- The council urges engineers to separate technical migration work from the governance debate and to build and test post‑quantum signature tools now using NIST‑approved candidate schemes and proposed mechanisms such as Hourglass, BIP‑361, and PACTs.